


The No Good, Very Bad Day

by Reindrops



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bellamy is having a bad day, College, F/M, Modern Setting Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Protective Clarke Griffin, clarke saves the day, customer Clarke, waiter bellamy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 07:29:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12206637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reindrops/pseuds/Reindrops
Summary: “I’m on the verge of tears because of a rude customer and you step in and stand up for me” AU that no one asked for.Or the one where Bellamy is getting yelled at by a customer, and Clarke is having none of it.





	The No Good, Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a part-time server. I feel Bellamy's pain!

There were some days Bellamy didn’t mind his job. He had some regulars that came in that were always good to him. There were always a couple of jerks sprinkled into his night, but Bellamy had been doing this long enough where he didn’t let it bother him. Besides, the fun tables usually always made up for the couple of douches he’d get.

He brought in an application after a couple weeks at college to help make some extra spending money. This place was usually busy during the dinner rush when he and his friends had gone, so he figured it’d be a great place to make a lot of tips. He only worked three nights a week to give himself plenty of time for studying. It was extremely part time.

He’d been telling himself for four years he needed to quit. But the tip money he made made every other part time job he could find not as appealing. He could make more in a few hours in just tips than some of his friends who were getting paid minimum wage for a 7 hour shift.

This job sucked his soul clean out of his body. The entitled, old customers complained the freshly made coffee wasn’t hot enough or that the food took too long to come out. Parents never tipped him to clean up after their messy toddlers that left a heaping pile of garbage on the floor that he couldn’t use a vacuum for since it was usually soggy food. The rowdy, drunk people came in and hit on him while he was at work and just being friendly because it was his job. People got mad when their expired coupons didn’t work, like it was his fault. Management was practically nonexistent and more often than not, they would schedule Bellamy on the days he wasn’t available.

There wasn’t a notebook big enough to fit all of Bellamy’s complaints. He told himself the money was worth it. He was saving up to move into a nice apartment on top of saving up money for his sister. Octavia was doing well in school and had joined several after school clubs and teams, which didn’t leave her a whole lot of time for studying anyway. A job was not going to help. Bellamy wanted her to have a normal high school life considering their childhood.

This is why he could put a smile on his face and go to work at a job he hated. It was worth it.

Today was not a good day for Bellamy. It started when he found out his bike was stolen out of his garage and since Octavia had the car, he had been forced to walk to class. It was only a few blocks to campus, but even so, he was late to class. After he apologized for being late, the professor didn’t seem to be that put off about his tardiness.

“Can I borrow your notes from what I’ve missed?” Bellamy whispered to the girl he usually sat next to.

She nodded, “I can stay behind after class. You didn’t miss very much.”

That was a relief. Bellamy turned back to the front of the class, taking out his notebook and a pen.

After gathering the notes from his classmate, Bellamy met up with his advisor to go over potential paid internships that would be most beneficial that could turn into full time, permanent jobs after the summer. They had found Bellamy’s perfect internship. It paid okay for an internship, wasn’t too far from where he lived, and it was in the Museum of Natural History where he would be giving lectures and helping out with miscellaneous things as needed. The hours were great. It was a dream come true.

If he got it.

Bellamy’s high was soon replaced with anxiety. There would be so many better qualified applicants than himself wanting the job. It’d be a miracle if he got it. He had decent grades, but there wasn’t a whole lot of experience on his resume to draw them in. His advisor gave him other potential opportunities that Bellamy also applied for, but his heart just wasn’t in it for the rest of them.

“Keep your head up,” his advisor told him with a smile, “You have a very good chance of getting accepted. You know I’ll give you a wonderful recommendation letter.”

Bellamy smiled appreciatively, wishing he felt as confident as his advisor apparently did. “That would be great.”

“We’ll probably find out in the next couple weeks. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

The library seemed as good a place as any to work on his thesis, but there were no open rooms. He managed to snag a table, but had to share with someone who had barely left any room for anyone else. Finding that the books he wanted were already checked out, Bellamy put in a request for them once they became available and worked on what he could without them. When he left for his next class, he hadn’t worked on much at all.

His last class got out much later than normal, causing Bellamy to be late for work. His boss, Malcolm, was having none of it, and told Bellamy if he had another tardy, he’d be let go. He’d been late one other time two years before when Octavia was sick and he had to run out for some medicine.

“Class ran longer than usual. It shouldn’t happen again,” Bellamy assured him.

“See that it doesn’t,” Malcolm nodded. “Oh, and I need you to come in at 11 tomorrow morning rather than at 4.” Malcolm, a small, plump man with an upturned nose and a frown perpetually frozen onto his face, turned back towards his computer, dismissing Bellamy. 

Bellamy frowned, “Sir, that’s not in my availability. I have to work on my thesis, which is due at the end of the month.”

Without even glancing away from the computer, Malcolm replied, “I understand, but we all have responsibilities outside of work. When you took this job, you understood that you might have to help when we’re short staffed. There’s no one else we can ask.”

Bellamy swallowed a nasty retort and just nodded before he grabbed his apron off his boss’ desk and made his way back out to the front to clock in. He was not going to be getting much sleep this weekend, it seemed.

Determined not to let all the stress from his personal life affect his service that night, he put on his brightest smile and started his shift. Most of the night passed smoothly. His tables were all relatively polite and tipping well, and Bellamy was thankful something was going right that day.

But then table 5, a middle-aged couple, happened. They came in during the busiest part of the night. They started off easily enough. Bellamy brought them their drinks and put their food order in with the kitchen in perfect timing. The couple saw a booth closer to a TV they could still see from their current spot come open and just moved without saying anything. The table hadn’t even been cleaned off, yet. When Bellamy came back out from the back after running some food to other tables, he found his table deserted. It took him a minute to find them, upon which they complained about how long it took him to get over to them and requested he promptly clean the table.

Bellamy smiled and complied with their request with a forced smile. The table wasn’t in his section, but he would have to keep them. He grabbed a rag, cleaned off their table and assured them their food would be out shortly. He then went to find his manager to transfer tables. It took him awhile to find his manager outside smoking. After finally getting the table transferred, he went back out and saw the food was already delivered to their table.

Checking on the table, the couple said the food came out fine. Satisfied, Bellamy visited his other tables and made his rounds. By the time he got back to the trouble table, they were most of the way through their food.

“I’m sorry, but the food is too cold,” the woman told him with a shrug and a secret smile. There were about five bites of her chicken fried steak left.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Bellamy smiled apologetically. “Would you like me to take this into the back and have them reheat it for you?”

The woman shook her head. “No, that would take too long. We’ve waited long enough tonight, I think. We’ll just pay for our drinks and go.”

Surprised, Bellamy frowned, “I’m sorry, but you’ll need to pay for the food, too.” He wasn’t sure what she could be getting at.

“We are not paying for cold food, young man. You may think it’s okay to feed this to other people, but we don’t,” the woman told him frankly, as though there were no room for debate.

“Sorry, but if it was cold, why didn’t you say something at the beginning? I could have corrected the issue right away?” Bellamy knew he probably shouldn’t have said it, but he was having a bad day. He wasn’t about to let some sleazy people get away with not paying for food that was perfectly good.

“Excuse me? How dare you question me! The customer is always right. You do what we say. I’m sorry, but this service has been the worst I’ve ever experienced in my life. You’re slow, argumentative, and stupid. Not good qualities for a waiter,” the woman shook her head, exasperated. “I would like to speak with your manager.”

Bellamy was flabbergasted. Never had a customer ever talked to him like this before. Unwittingly, tears welled up in his eyes. Trying to blink them back, he kept telling himself he just had to get through a couple more hours and this horrible day would be over. Composing himself, he nodded and was about to turn to go get his manager to deal with this, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation over here,” a blonde haired woman cut in catching Bellamy by surprise. She was shorter than Bellamy by about half a foot. She had the most vibrant blue eyes he'd ever seen, and she had a mole above her lip. Bellamy thought she was beautiful but couldn't for the life of him figure out what she was doing, She was looking compassionately between Bellamy and the couple. “But is this person bothering you?”

She were looking directly at Bellamy as she asked that, but the woman thought she was speaking to her, “Yes, he is! I’m sure you’ve heard the whole thing. This server-”

His savior turned on the older woman, “This server has been busting his ass off for you and your husband the entire night. You moved to a dirty table without consulting your server and then had the audacity to act put off when it didn’t have it clean within seconds,” the girl started ticking off on her fingers all the reasons. “You lied about the food so you’d get it for free, and then you have the audacity to degrade this server in front of the entire restaurant when he can’t defend himself for fear of losing his job and expect me to side with you? No thanks.”

Bellamy didn’t know what to say. He was so surprised by this girl sticking up for him. Glancing up, he noticed most of this side of the restaurant watching them. Some of his coworkers had even stopped to watch how the event would unfold.

He was trying to figure out how to smooth this whole thing over when the woman said, “How dare you talk to me this way! Who do you think you are?” Bellamy kept waiting for the woman’s husband to speak up, but he actually looked ashamed, refusing to meet their eyes.

The girl shrugged, “I’m the one who will pay your tab. Not to reward you but just so you both will leave.” She stepped to the side and gestured towards the front of the building. The couple gave the girl and Bellamy a dirty look but got up and headed towards the front, pulling her husband along behind her. “If they do end up talking to your boss, you can blame me,” the girl said, smiling at Bellamy. She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and took out a credit card. “Here, put their tab on my card.”

Bellamy shook his head, “You don’t have to do that.”

She shrugged like it was no big deal, like she hadn’t just saved him. “I know, but I want to, and I can afford it.”

Bellamy took the card, cashed out the table, and made his way back to where the girl was sitting. She was sitting with three other boys in one of his coworkers’ sections. They seemed a pretty diverse bunch, which made Bellamy like them all the more.

“Here’s your card back. Thanks again. You really didn’t have to do that,” he told her with a small smile. She didn’t need to do it, but he was certainly glad she had.

She smiled up at him as she accepted her card and the receipts from him. “It was my pleasure.” She turned to sign the receipt, “I’m Clarke, by the way.” Finished, she handed the receipt back to him. Bellamy shoved it into his apron without looking at it. “These are my friends: Wells, Jasper, and Monty.” She pointed at each one in turn.

All three of them gave Bellamy a little wave but remained silent.

Bellamy nodded at them. “Well, thanks again. I better get back to my other tables. I owe you.”

“Maybe you’ll return the favor someday,” Clarke replied.

Bellamy turned and made his rounds with his tables. A couple even apologized to him for the rude table's behavior towards him, which he appreciated. 

Finally, the night was winding down. As he was entering in his credit card tips into the computer, he found the one that Clarke had signed for him. He couldn’t believe it. Her number was written at the top with a smiley face. And she had given him a bigger tip than what the couple owed. He couldn’t believe it, but he entered in the amount in the computer and saved her number into his phone.

After he turned everything in and was checked out with his manager, he made his way out the back. Standing at the curb five feet in front of him was Clarke. She was talking to one of the guys from her table, the one she had introduced as Wells.

Wells caught sight of Bellamy first and nodded his head towards him in greeting, which caused Clarke to turn around. She smiled at him as though he was who she had been waiting for this whole time. What he wouldn’t give to see more of that smile.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting this entire time?”

She shrugged again. She did that a lot. “There are some cool shops around here. We window shopped for a bit, too.”

“Well, I’ll leave you both to it. Hope your night looks up for you, Bellamy,” Wells said before he turned and walked down the sidewalk, probably home.

“Do you live in the area?” Bellamy asked.

“I live on campus of Arkadia,” she told him, blowing his mind. This girl went to the same school he did. How had he never seen her before?

“I go to Arkadia, too. How have I never seen you around before. What’s your major?” Bellamy asked.

“I’m Pre-Med. You?” she replied. Ah, two totally different majors, two totally different sides of campus.

“History major,” he told her.

“Nerd.”

He grinned at that but didn’t argue.

“Would it be weird if I say I knew you went to Arkadia, too? Monty has a huge crush on Nathan Miller, who I know you’re good friends with. And Monty recognized you and told me you lived off campus around here somewhere. So, I was hoping to walk you back to your place?” Her cheeks turned pink and she looked down, embarrassed.

Bellamy appreciated her boldness. “Not the weirdest thing that's happened to me today. I could use some pleasant company after the day I’ve had.” He turned and started down the sidewalk at an amicable pace, Clarke falling into step beside him.

“I hope that table didn’t ruin your entire day,” Clarke finally said.

“I could say I’m used to stuff like that, but that just sounds sad. Besides, there was this kickass girl who stepped in for me. She seemed pretty cool,” he said, a smirk pulling at his lips.

“She sounds awesome. Wish I could be as cool as her.”

“Why’d you leave me your number if you were just going to wait around?” Bellamy asked finally.

“A combination of anxiety and excitement,” she laughed.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Bellamy assured her.

The walk to Bellamy’s house was over much too quickly. In no time at all, they found themselves on Bellamy’s porch. There was light emanating from inside, so Bellamy knew Octavia must be home. Silence descended on them as they stood on the porch. Bellamy debated asking to come in or to offer to hang out later.

“Would you want to go out tomorrow night?” Clarke suddenly asked.

Bellamy winced. “I can’t tomorrow.”

Uncertainty clouded Clarke’s eyes, “Oh.” She looked away, back down his driveway.

“Not that I don’t want to hang out. I just work again. But I’m free the next night. If that works for you?” he suggested.

She looked back at him, her lips turning up into another smile. “It’s a date. Text me the details, okay?”

“I will,” he nodded.

“Good. I can’t wait,” with that, Clarke turned and headed back down his driveway. She cast one more glance his way before she turned and walked out of sight.

Bellamy stared after her unable to stop smiling. Not that he’d even want to if given the choice.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading!   
> If you could spare a couple moments to leave me a comment/kudo/subscription, I'd love you forever!


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